Category: Infant Care

Today’s market offers a great variety of pediatric exam tables of different models. Colorful designs are great for all kids, especially those of dogs, cats and favorite cartoon characters always keep kids interested, which makes them a perfect background for a calm examination. Bright, colorful and shiny tables are always very popular.

The surface of a pediatric table is designed to resist scuffs, marks or wear. As all the colors are extremely bright, they add extra color to the room, remaining comfortable for kids to lie down during examination. Some modern models also adjust at mid-section, thus allowing the upper body and head to be properly elevated for ease in examination and additional comfort.

In the 19th century there appeared special devices named incubators. They were initially created for maintaining LBW (thermal stability in low birth weight) as well as ill newborns. The main aim was to improve the chances of babies of survival.

Later on a great progress took place discovering the possibilities of these units to be effectively used for other purposes (like bacteriological incubators, for example). Today incubators are highly technological devices. However, the days pass by and there are still many aspects that may be improved in future.

Probably every woman knows that when you’re pregnant, there is nothing as pleasant and comforting as realizing the fact that there’s a tiny little heart beating under your own. And, of course, when you are pregnant, there is nothing as reassuring as hearing your unborn baby’s heartbeat sound.

Today’s technological world allows expecting moms track their babies’ growth before they are born. Usually it happens when you have an appointment with your doctor, who can treat you with an ultrasound machine to monitor your baby’s growth. But thanks to latest technological devices like fetal heartbeat monitors & fetal Doppler monitors, monitoring your baby has become even easier and more handy. So, what is a fetal Doppler monitor and what is it used for?

That is not a secret that newborn babies require professional care and medical attention, especially during the very first hours and days of their life. This is the reason why they should be admitted into a special place – the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

What Is Neonatal Intensive Care Unit?

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU, is a nursery that offers around-the-clock care to premature or sick babies. It is staffed with professional care providers, who have both special equipment and training to give the best care babies need.

According to the latest statistics, nearly 15% of all newborn babies require specialized care and attention. This refers to those, who are born premature or sick.

Nowadays, there are a lot of people with a seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Such people feel deeply depressed, anxious, and frustrated in winter. However, as soon as spring comes, the symptoms of the disorder are over. Although the symptoms of the disorder are temporary, such people require therapies that would simplify their daily life during the winter period. The disorder affects people that live in cold countries oftener than people who live near equator. People of 20-30 years old are usually affected by the disease. However, there are exceptions and people of different age categories can suffer from SAD. Researchers have proved that women suffer from SAD oftener than men. The causes of SAD are very diverse: environmental changes, genetic inheritance, changes in the balance of brain chemicals, and changes in the balance of hormones.

What is UV light? UV stands for ultraviolet, which is an electromagnetic radiation that normally occurs between the x-rays and the visible spectrum. This type of light ranges from 10nm to 400nm with the energies from 3eV and to 124eV.

UV rays are known for assisting the human body in making Vitamin D that helps to make the teeth and bones stronger as well as build immunities to various diseases, especially colon cancer. UV light helps in treating psoriasis and preventing the outbreak of the itchy patches. The treatment course will take nearly one month, but the results are worth the time spent on treatment sessions. However, the light is popular not only in medical uses, but also in commercial, including disinfection and sterilization.

The sun plays a vitally important role in the lives of people. It produces vitamin D which is vitally important for the normal development of all human beings. This vitamin is especially important for children in early childhood when their organisms develop in a very active manner. The required amount of vitamin D protects human beings’ organisms. People who live in warm countries get the required amount of vitamin D which is produced by the sun and, as a result, they do not require any artificial light. However, those people who live in cold countries do not get enough rays and, as a result, they must turn for help to artificial light.

On the fifth week of pregnancy the heart of the unborn baby starts beating, and this fetal heartbeat is highly important for monitoring the health of the pregnant. This is what a fetal heart monitor is for.

What is a Fetal Heart Monitor?

It is also referred to as a Doppler fetal monitor. It’s a device, which helps a doctor and mother to observe the heartbeat of an unborn baby. The use of such device is an essential part of a prenatal care. The monitor is an ultra-sound transducer that uses a known Doppler effect for providing an audio replica of the baby’s heartbeat.

During the procedure of monitoring a nurse evaluates the strip for adequacy and continuity for interpretation. The task is to identify the baseline fetal rate of heart as well as the presence of variability, determining whether there are any decelerations and accelerations from the baseline. The nurse will also identify patterns of uterine contraction.

All this information allows determining whether the heart rate recording is nonreassuring, reassuring or ominous. This helps in developing a whole plan for the situation of delivering the baby in the best manner possible.

A newborn baby experiences thermal instability after delivery. The temperature of mother’s womb is higher than the air temperature of the delivery room. It is vital to prevent the fall in infant’s temperature as it can even increase the mortality risk.

It is necessary to provide immediate infant warming right after delivery as a baby has four times bigger capacity to loss of heat than a grown-up. Its temperature can fall by 1-2°C over 30 minutes. If a newborn baby loses heat rapidly, it leads to a phenomenon called ‘cold stress’. Oxygen consumption and metabolism increase, and this can even lead to hypoxia. Powerful, safe, and controlled radiant warming reduces cold stress and prevents the baby from further negative effects.